•

1

Strive for a Healthy Weighthttp://www.prevention.va.gov/MPT/2014/

February_2014.asp

Richmond VAMC

Veteran’s Healthy Living Newsletter

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

Maintaining a healthy weight means balancing the number of calories you eat with the calories your body uses or burns.• If you maintain your weight, you are "in

balance." You are eating close to the same number of calories that your body is using. Your weight will remain stable.

• If you are gaining weight, you are eating more calories than your body is using. These extra calories will be stored as fat, and you will gain weight.

• If you are losing weight, you are eating fewer calories than you are using. Your body is using its fat storage cells for energy, so your weight is decreasing.

A simple way to know if you are at a healthy weight is to know your body mass index (BMI).

• Link to BMI table• BMI Guidelines:

• Underweight = BMI less than 18.5

• Normal weight = BMI of 18.5-24.9

• Overweight = BMI of 25-29.9

People with prediabetes have glucose levels that are higher than normal but not high enough yet to indicate type 2 diabetes. Without change of lifestyle and behavior choices, prediabetes is likely to lead to type 2 diabetes in 10 years or less. If you have prediabetes, the long-term damages related to diabetes - especially to your heart and circulatory system - may already be starting.

Ask your Primary Care provider about prediabetes. One method of checking for prediabetes and follow diabetes therapy is a blood test called the Hemoglobin A1C. The Hemoglobin A1C measures your average blood sugar for the past 2 to 3 months. Consider asking your Primary Care provider if a Hemoglobin A1C has been obtained in your recent lab work.

There is good news. Prediabetes is the opportunity for you to improve your health and meet your longterm goals for your life. With healthy lifestyle changes, the development of prediabetes to type 2 diabetes is NOT inevitable. The lifestyle changes include eating healthy foods, including physical activity in your daily routine and maintaining a healthy weight. Any weight loss for a prediabetic is important. Bottom line, losing 7% of your body weight and exercising moderately such as a brisk 30 minute walk daily, five days a week, can lower your risk of developing diabetes type 2 by 58%.

If you are prediabetic and would like additional information and support as well as an opportunity to problem solve with other Veterans, consider joining the prediabetes group. Call the Health Promotion Disease Prevention program manager: Christina Flory, PA-C 804.675.5171 (pager 804-675-3093) or discuss with your Primary Care PACT team.

weweightweight.

“Evolution favored people who could survive famines, so once the body has gone through the experience of not getting enough to eat, it reacts by fighting to keep all the pounds it has. When you diet, your body assumes there’s a famine and hangs on to every fat cell it can. Instead of going for quick weight loss today, you’re better off using your self-control to make gradual changes that will produce lasting effects, and you have to be especially careful with your strategies.”

-Baumeister &Tierney

Strive for a Health Weight- Decrease Risk of Diabetes

type 2

•

2

Banana Oatmeal Hotcakes with Spiced Maple Syrup --Mayo ! ! ! ! ClinicServes 6Ingredients

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine the maple syrup, cinnamon stick and cloves. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and cloves with

a slotted spoon. Set the syrup aside and keep warm.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the oats and water. Microwave on high until the oats are creamy and tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the brown sugar and canola oil. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. Whisk to blend.

Add the milk, yogurt and banana to the oats and stir until well blended. Beat in the egg. Add the flour mixture to the oat mixture and stir just until moistened.

Place a nonstick frying pan or griddle over medium heat. When a drop of water sizzles as it hits the pan, spoon 1/4 cup pancake batter into the pan. Cook until the top surface of the pancake is covered with bubbles and the edges are lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook until the bottom is well browned and the pancake is cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Repeat with the remaining pancake batter.

Place the pancakes on warmed individual plates. Drizzle with the warm syrup and serve immediately.

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cinnamon stick

3 whole cloves

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup water

2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose (plain) flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup 1 percent low-fat milk

1/4 cup fat-free plain yogurt

1 banana, peeled and mashed

1 egg, lightly beaten

Nutritional analysis per serving Serving size : 3 pancakes

! Total carbohydrate 49 g! Dietary fiber 3 g! Sodium 243 mg! Saturated fat 1 g! Total fat 7 g! Cholesterol 32 mg! Protein 6 g! Monounsaturated fat 4 g! Calories 271

Dietitian's tip:

Mashed bananas and cooked oats help keep these pancakes moist and flavorful. If you don't like syrup, warm some sliced bananas in a frying pan with a small amount of butter or oil and spoon them on top.

Healthy Heroes Breakfast - Start the Day Off Right

Managing Your Weight

Did you know there are simple actions you can take to eat wisely? By eating wisely, you will maximize your health. Look for a variety of foods including vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Include fat-free or low fat milk products in your diet and try to limit salt, fat, sugar and alcohol.

Interested in a Veteran specific healthy eating group? Check out MOVE! The schedule for the walk-in clinic is available through your PACT team.

Eat Wisely

NEAT ACTIVITY vs EXERCISE

Remember discussing exercise with your Primary Care provider? Your provider encouraged you to set aside time for specific aerobic and resistance exercises to help you meet your goal for healthy living and a long life. You may be wondering: “Does all the exercise I do at work count to improve my health?”The exercise you get living your daily life is not aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is moderate to strenuous exercise that raises your heart rate and improves your endurance.The exercise you get living your daily live is not the muscle-strengthening physical activity that improves your strength. Activities that keep you up and moving at work, keeping the house and tending the yard and garden are in the in the NEAT category. NEAT is also important in the health equation.

“Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. It ranges from the energy expended walking to work, typing, performing yard work, undertaking agricultural tasks and fidgeting. Even trivial physical activities increase metabolic rate substantially and it is the cumulative impact of a multitude of exothermic actions that culminate in an individual's daily NEAT. It is, therefore, not surprising that NEAT explains a vast majority of an individual's non-resting energy needs... Agricultural and manual workers have high NEAT, whereas wealth and industrialization appear to decrease NEAT..... Thus, NEAT could be a critical component in how we maintain our body weight and/or develop obesity or lose weight.”

author: Levine, JA source: Best Practices Res. Clinical Endocrinology Metabolism. 2002